RIVERS WITHOUT BORDERS

Posted In: Blog , Iskut-Stikine

Shannon McPhail: Volunteer Executive Director, Leader

I recently had the opportunity to spend a little time at Hollyhock Institute on Cortes Island, BC.  Hollyhock offered a week-long course called the Canadian Environmental Leadership Program, and 30 conservationists/lawyers/ environmentalists/social justice advocates were in attendance, including Shannon McPhail, executive director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition (SWCC).  I asked Shannon to elaborate upon a question that participants were invited to respond to at the introduction of the program, and the question was: "why do you do the work that you do?"  Her feedback makes Rivers Without Borders hope it will be able to partner more closely with Shannon and SWCC in the future.

Shannon and her crew at SWCC have been instrumental among the group of elders and ENGO’s campaigning to protect the Sacred Headwaters from Royal Dutch Shell’s coalbed methane proposal.  See SWCC’s website and the Sacred Headwaters website for details on how this is going. 

Shannon does the work she does with SWCC for a variety of reasons, not least of which is her familial connection to the area she lives in.  Her family has lived in the Kispiox valley for generations.  Her parents and grandparents have communed extensively with the land, and have lived comfortably within the surrounding wilderness.  Once she realized she was about to have a child of her own, her passion for local environmental issues actually increased.  "I am doing this for my child, for the one that is on the way, and for future generations," says McPhail.

So, she has one child and another on the way, and she’s not receiving a wage as an executive director!  "We’ve paid out about $6500 in total wages over the last four years… a pay cheque would be nice, but it’s not a necessity," she says.  

"When I’m tired, feeling spent and ready to drop after a day full of meetings, I remember that my children’s futures are seriously in jeopardy.  That keeps me going."

McPhail did not identify with a lot of the stereotypical characterizations of environmentalists while growing up.

"I used to think environmentalists were just a bunch of hippies… I used to guide big game expeditions. My dad is a rodeo stock contractor.  Now he works with me as a SWCC board member." Conservation and sustainable development for Shannon and her father involves responsible hunting, and fishing.  It includes partnering with elders groups on issues affecting traditional First Nations lands.  "I’m not anti-development.  I believe development should embrace a mandate of minimal risks for the maximum benefit for local populations.  Communities’ wants and needs should drive discussions about development, not corporate or governmental agendas," she adds.

The mandate of SWCC is to foster a healthy, sustainable economy and healthy cultures rooted in the thriving wild salmon watershed of the Skeena River.  

Among those who inspire Shannon to do the work that she does are the Klabona Keepers, an elders group based out of Iskut, BC, dedicated to protecting the Sacred Headwaters from irresponsible industrial development. 

"The Klabona Keepers are about as inspiring as it gets.  They are willing to sleep in wall tents for almost 3 years with their families to keep watch at the road leading into the Sacred Headwaters, off the Cassiar highway," says McPhail.

They are losing money, they are sacrificing their time to protect future generations. They stand behind their convictions, they cannot be bribed, they are even willing to go to jail in order to stand up for what they know to be true."

Wild salmon, culture, local economies, ways of life are reasons enough for Shannon to strive forth with the work that she does.  These factors should not be sacrificed for any company’s bottom line. 

Author’s note: If I were a development company Shannon was campaigning against, I’d simply throw in the towel.  Shannon is persuasive, inspiring and an unassuming leader who is capable of getting a group to coalesce around her by being inclusive and funny.